Director is first female

VETERAN CIA officer Gina Haspel was sworn in as the agency’s first female director yesterday, hailing the “heroines” who had gone before her and expressing hope she and her team would be “role models.”

A Russia specialist who spent her career in the CIA, Ms Haspel, 61, takes over from Mike Pompeo, the new secretary of state.

She was confirmed by the Senate, despite reservations of some lawmakers about her past involvement in the torture of terror suspects in the post-9/11 era.